


Second Time's The Charm

by catisacat



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 12:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9548912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catisacat/pseuds/catisacat
Summary: Femslash February Request from Tumblr!Lena ends up misplaced in time and ends up in an alternate universe with a version of herself that never was in the accident.They only get one evening together, a soft vacation from the cold habitat they've built for her in Gibraltar while Winston works on a device to anchor her to their world.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking request for Femslash February on my tumblr, catisacat!
> 
> There's more information over there, pop over and leave your request (include ship and at least one word on subject/theme) is you're interested in joining in.

It felt weird. Lena didn’t like it.

The feeling of drifting in and out of time was freaky.

She curled up in a tighter ball, encapsulated in the room made to contain her. It never really did, not yet. It helped lessen the shifts but they happened nonetheless. She still found herself haphazardly tossed into some new unfamiliar place. Or possibly an unfamiliar time.

The last trip had been the worst. She knew just enough to know she was in Japan, signs surrounding her in a language she couldn’t read, only recognize. She could hear screaming nearby, towards that looked like a shrine of some sort. Before she could head towards the dragon-themed gates she’d been teleported away again.

Unbelievable guilt. Unable to help as she was tossed back into her sterile containment room.

Of course, this was nothing unusual. She was often put places of high tension, unable to help before being torn away again. Once, just once, she wished she could have a nice evening. That this curse would take her somewhere nice and warm where she could be free. Just for a little while.

Sleep found her. Curled up tightly on the soft bed they’d given her.

Maybe Winston would have that device done tomorrow.

She hoped.

When her eyes opened, she found herself leaning against a stone wall.

For a second she panicked as she pushed herself away from it, looking around to try and figure out where she’d been placed now. Africa? Asia? Australia?

No. No, she knew this place. Her eyes lit up as she realized where she’d landed this time.

King’s Row. England. Her beautiful, beautiful home.

She was certain she looked absolutely mad as she started twirling around, dancing down the street with an almost manic smile on her face.

Without even thinking she ended up at her home. Looking down she found herself in one of her old outfits, just some cargo shorts and a t-shirt for her favorite pub. Reaching into her pocket she found her house key, just where it had always had been.

The door opened with a click, letting her into her brightly decorated apartment.

She was only allowed a single moment of relief before utter terror overtook her. In her jubilation she’d never thought about the possibility she was just a visitor to this place and not its inhabitant.

Previously she’d never thought there would be a weirder feeling than chronal disconnection but turns out staring at herself sitting on her couch was even freakier.

Considering the panicked yelling the two exchanged it didn’t sound like this-timeline-Lena was terrible okay with this situation either.

\---

“So, you never got on the plane?”

“No, the teleportation device on it exploded before it was even completed.”

The two were already curled up together like a couple of kittens, the Lena belonging to this universe gently raking her hands through the ruffled hair of the displaced one. They’d managed to figure out enough to know that the time-travelling Lena seemed to be here on the exact same date as her universe. But it wasn’t hers.

“So this is… some sort of alternate universe… I don’t know if that's new or not but either way it’s new to me. I think. Maybe. I don’t really know how this whole time travel thing works.”

“We should give ourselves different names for now so we don’t get confused.”

“Well, this is your universe so you can just be Lena. I’m the visitor here. Oh! I know I can be-”

“Dr. Lena!” they both exclaimed, jumping up and excitedly holding hands as they manically giggled at their own joke.

“I guess that makes me your companion,” Lena chirped as she pulling Dr. Lena against her again, “Do you… do you know how long you’ll be here?”

“No. Probably… probably not long. It never is. At most a day. Maybe two. Pretty rare though.”

“Well… what do you want to do?”

Dr. Lena sighed as she looked out the window, “Well, we can’t exactly walk around like this. People here know me and they know there’s only one of me.”

“We could say we’re twins?”

“Too convoluted, love, they’ll always think we have a twin then.”

“Well if I know you and I know I do because I am you there’s always-”

“Oh, yeah, yeah! The Chinese delivery place down the road!”

Both of them reached for the phone at the same time, giving each other a bit of a surprised look as their hands met on the cell. Dr. Lena pulled her hand back with an apologetic nod as Lena started dialing.

There was something nice in that Dr. Lena didn’t have to tell her… well herself what to order. The other her just smiled and got two orders of her favorite cashew shrimp and some eggrolls. Her mouth was watering as she tried to remember the last time she’d gotten to eat from her old haunt.

Either way that clock was reset as the food arrived. Dr. Lena ducked behind the couch as Lena handed over the money and happily bounced back, bags in hand.

“Ohhh, it’s been too long!” Dr. Lena chirped as she dug into the bag and took her half. The smell was overpowering in the best way possible.

Before she could take a bite of her own, Lena reached over and expertly plucked one out and lifted it for her with a wink, “Want a hand?”

“This is majorly impractical but absolutely!” Dr. Lena giggled, opening her mouth with a smile.

Her face was red though. It was a bit embarrassing that Lena knew exactly what she was thinking at all points in time. She knew exactly how cute Dr. Lena found getting fed was. She even knew how she dunked it in the egg roll sauce first.

There was a sharp pang in her heart as Dr. Lena realized how temporary this is.

Lena didn’t even ask really as she stuck in their favorite Disney movie before cuddling up next to her again. Everything was so unspoken that Dr. Lena was starting to feel like this was just… how things were supposed to be.

After they finished up their shrimp they lazily packed it back in the bag, letting it sit on the coffee table as they entangled with each other again.

“Are you scared?” Lena quietly whispered, as the slow section of the movie droned on in the background, “About… all this?”

“Yes…” Dr. Lena quietly admitted, “I just… Winston is working so hard on fixing it but it’s just… it’s scary. It’s the loneliest feeling in the world. I wish things could be normal. I wish things could be…”

“Like this,” Lena finished, gesturing to the soft and warm glow that always seemed to permeate her quiet little apartment.

“Yeah,” Dr. Lena nodded, “This just… You’re in the universe where things went right. I wish I could stay here. With you. That’s… that’s maybe a little weird or narcissistic to say but...”

“I know. It’s like… finding the missing piece to a puzzle but that puzzle’s not supposed to even exist.”

Dr. Lena sighed, “It’s like we’re already an old married couple.”

Lena looked at the clock, knowing it had only been technically seven hours since her odd little time clone had shown up. But it had basically been twenty-six years, right?

Before she could ruminate on that too much, Dr. Lena reached over and pulled herself into a kiss. No awkwardness, nothing unusual, the most natural feeling thing in the world. When she pulled back it was immediately met by Lena pulling her into a tight hug, letting Dr. Lena nuzzle into her shoulder.

“We should get to bed.”

Dr. Lena nodded, knowing it would probably be the last time she saw this universe’s version of herself.

Nonetheless there was no need to drag things out further. As they changed into their pajamas they curled up together, Dr. Lena immediately and naturally finding herself the big spoon.

As she closed her eyes on this world all she felt was warmth coming from her other self, hands intertwined in front of them.

\---

The empty coldness was back.

Lena woke with a start at the metallic knocking, reverberating in the nearly empty room.

Was it all a dream? She didn’t think so. Looking down she found herself wearing the same pajamas she’d put on “last night.” Definitely not a dream.

Another knock brought her out of her melancholy daydreams.

Winston was at the observation window with a blue, glowing device in his hands. His wide smile nearly outshone the thing as he yelled through the glass that he did it! It was done!

\---

It felt weird. Lena didn’t like it.

But it was how she was going to live now. The chronal accelerator wasn’t heavy but it stuck out of her chest at odd angles, catching her arms and hands against it constantly.

Winston had assured her that she’d get used to it. She believed him.

But there was no one she could tell about that night. One surreal evening where she’d felt herself starting to fall for… well, herself. She briefly considered acquiring a doctorate, making her a real “Dr. Lena” but somehow that felt less like a joke and more bittersweet.

As time went on it became a new normal to her. Just another part of daily life.

She enjoyed the times where she could take it off to charge it, wandering freely around her apartment.

It didn’t take long for her to find the edges of safety. How far she could be from the device before it starting to make her fade again. That old, familiar feeling creeping through her skin.

She didn’t like it.

But something kept her coming back.

Every once in a while, whenever she walked the edge of that invisible barrier, she could swear she heard the her from the other universe. Nothing but snippets, casual tidbits, but they echoed quietly in the void.

Lena often found herself staring at that void, longing to go back.

But she knew it was a gamble. The chances of her going back to that universe were almost nothing. It was like tossing a pebble into the sea and hoping to find it again.

Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be, she supposed.


End file.
